Whilst the lagar samples of the '14 may have looked really good, negative traits might easily have surfaced over the subsequent months..

Very true. I'm sure it is difficult to get a true impression of a VP from freshly bottled juice, so I have no doubt that things can change over that first year in bottle. It may not have been the original reason for delaying declaration for 18-30 months, but I'm sure it proves useful now that it is required standard practice.

There have been a few new additions made to the list of 2015 ports, but the main reason for this latest post is to share a summary of an interesting conversation I had with the team from Vinko Vinhos. This is the company behind Barao de Vilar, Maynard, Feuerheerd and Palmer (and a few other names).

Vinko have decided to declare the 2015 vintage. They have made and bottled two blends. Barao de Vilar and Maynard are the same blend with different labels while Feuerheerd and Palmer are also the same blend but different labels.

Vinko also make a really good LBV, around 100,000 bottles per year (when made). About 40% of the volume goes to the UK market — almost entirely to Aldi.

Incidentally, as and when I come across ports from other vintages 2005 or later which do not appear on the relevant vintage lists thread, I am also updating those older lists. If anyone does encounter an older vintage not on the list (or possibly not on the list) either post it on the thread or drop me a PM.

Tasted at the London Wine Fair last week: Quinta da Côrte 2015.
They told me they will also declare 2016, but haven't done so yet (as of last week).

Is that still Delaforce or is it now an independent producer?

It was apparently never owned by Delaforce (which was news to me!), but the family who owned it sold to a French owner of several estates in 2012. 2015 was their first release (of Port, they also produce Douro DOC) and they also do a 10YO, which, I was told, comes from old stocks kept at the quinta. Some more info as found on their website:

For many years, when it was owned by the local “Pacheco & Irmãos” families, the Quinta produced grapes and occasional batches of wine which it sold to major Port producers such as Delaforce, Croft, Taylor’s and Ramos Pinto. It cruised along, with good years and bad years, doing just enough to keep things in the family. Although it was supplying wines which were good enough to be included in the incredible variety of blends produced by the firms with which it had contracts, it lacked the resources to achieve the kind of independence which its great terroir merited and to develop its own range.

In 2012 Philippe Austruy, the owner of several domaines in France and abroad, was looking for a domaine in the Douro. When he went to look at the Quinta da Côrte, it was love at first sight. The buildings were in a lamentable state, and a chronic lack of maintenance was everywhere in evidence, but the potential of the property was clear to see. It took more than a year to come to an arrangement with a multitude of heirs before the purchase was finalised, but by the end of 2012 the work could begin. The vineyard and the wine store were the first receive attention, and for the 2013 vintage the Quinta da Côrte produced a Douro red which already displayed the excellence of the terroir.